Putin is expected to illegally annex Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine following sham votes. (original) (raw)
Europe|Putin is expected to illegally annex Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine following sham votes.
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A mobile polling site set up for a referendum in Mariupol, in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, on Saturday.Credit...Associated Press
Sept. 30, 2022
President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia is expected on Friday to declare that four regions in eastern and southern Ukraine will become part of Russia, as the Kremlin seeks to solidify its tenuous hold over parts of the country in an illegal annexation that has been widely denounced.
The Kremlin said on Thursday that it would hold an elaborate ceremony to begin absorbing four Ukrainian territories, with Mr. Putin poised to deliver what his spokesman called a “voluminous” speech, despite global condemnation of sham referendums in the occupied regions, where some were made to vote at gunpoint.
Ukraine has called the annexation an illegal and grotesque farce that followed staged polls in cities laid to waste by Russian forces and abandoned by most residents. The United States and the European Union have also condemned the referendums, and the Biden administration has already indicated it is ready to impose additional sanctions on Russia if annexation proceeds.
Even though Russia’s has been unable to exert its full control and authority over the four territories it seeks to annex, Moscow was preparing a show on Friday designed to provide a pretext for its illegal land grab. The authorities in Moscow put up billboards and a giant video screen in Red Square and announced road closures for Friday. State media described it as preparations for a rally and concert “in support of the outcome of the referendums.”
The annexation was expected to cover Donetsk and Luhansk in the east, and Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in the south. Russia controls nearly all of Luhansk and Kherson, but only a fraction of the other two regions, Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk, presaging a serious military, strategic and administrative challenge ahead as the Kremlin seeks to consolidate its authority.
Russia had already recognized Donetsk and Luhansk as independent states shortly before its invasion of Ukraine in February. In decrees that Russian state news agencies published early Friday, Mr. Putin additionally recognized Kherson and Zaporizhzhia Provinces as independent.
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